Rebatch soap

I tried rebatching for the first time the other day. The word on the net seemed to be: “Don’t bother, it turns out lumpy and rather un-pleasant”. So, obviously I had to give it a go!

And what fun! I had read a lot of advise and what I did was:
I grated the left over soap bits and pieces with my finest grater. I put it into a stainless steel pot and poured over it a little bit of milk and let it sit over night. This way the soap gratings soak up the liquid and it is easier to melt them. And that is the next stage. That can be done on the stove or in the oven, I chose the oven, put the pot in there on low heat (150 F / 65 C) and went to do something else for just over an hour. I then put the pot on the stove and started to stirr the mix. It did look lumpy and rather unprepossessing. I kept adding a bit of milk and some water to try to make it a bit smoother. And then, since I bake, I thought: “Oh, it’s lumpy, lets whip it”! So I did. I had read somewhere briefly about whipped soap that floats and somehow remembered that.

I loved the result. It turned the soap into a relatively smooth fluffy icing looking thing. So I got out my thing for decorating cakes (I never do that though, I’m no Martha) and made a few meringue-like mini soaps. They were quite cute, so I thought I need to do this again. So I did and this time I added some cocoa powder to a part of it to colour it brown and piped it into muffin forms. Then I piped the uncoloured, white part, on top. So now I have these cute muffin soaps. I added a tiny top of pink on top and it lookes quite cute.

I’m thinking of giving them as gifts to a girl who is getting confirmed.
Hope she likes it

The photo: We found these really cute nightstands at the Good Shepheard flea market. They are made of Oak, but painted white.  They would look even better with a marble top. My daughter and son in law have them. 

Laundry soap

I have just finished making laundry soap, something that I've wanted to do for a long time. It's really amazing how something looks to be very time consuming or complicated before you try to "just do it".
This is laundry soap making for me. It's been over a year since I started to read about green cleaning and alternatives to detergent use in the home. I have been using vinegar and baking soda for weekly cleaning and given up on store bought clenaers, but laundry soap was still a long way away. It just seemed so involved and messy so I kept putting it off.

Until the other day I took a look a my soaps and thought some of the first ones that I still had, looked a bit boring. Just plain and white, actually just perfect soaps. Perfect for laundry! So I grated them down and mixed them with washing soda and borax. That's it!
Laundry soap!
The dry version.
The recipe I used was basically:

2 soap bars (about 200 gr. total)
1 cup washing soda
1/2 cup borax.

Mix and put in a container.
Used 1-2 tablespoons per load.

Since that was easy I started to make the liquid one. That also involved grating soap bars. This time into a pot and on top of that I poured water. I heated this up to a medium heat. Just so it doesn't start to froth to much. When the soap is dissolved into the water I filled a bucket (10 liters or so) up to maybe 3/4 with hot water and poured the soap solution into that. Then I stirred a cup of washing soda and a cup of borax into the solution. Let it sit over night. The instructions that I read warned that this might get "gloopy and lumpy" but I didn't find that. To me it seemed rather smooth, but to make sure I took my stick blender to it.

The next day I poured this into empty detergent bottles. I had ripped off the labels and used a Sharpie to write the recipe on the bottles. Handy for the next time.
So the recipe for the liquid laundry soap is this:

1-2 Soap bar(s) - about 200-250 gr. This isn't an exact science
1 cup Washing soda
1 cup Borax

Grate the soap into a pot. Pour water over and heat gently. Stir to disolve soap flakes, but be careful it doesn't froth too much.
Pour 7 liters hot water into a bucket and add the soapy water. Add the washing soda and borax and stir. Cover (with a plastic bag or a towel) and let sit overnight. This may get "gloopy and lumply", but you can stir it with a stick blender to get a smoother consistency.
Use 1/4 - 1/2 cup in a load.

Now I've been testing these out by doing load after load of laundry. I have to say that the laundry looks fine. I see no difference from the commercial laundry detergents. The smell on the clothes is great: It's really no smell at all and quite like when you hang laundry outside to dry.
It just smells of nothing but CLEAN.
I love it!

The photo: I got that scoop at the Good S.... flea market.  I bought a few boxes like that at IKEA and wrote on them with

a Sharpie.  The little bottle has been rattling around my parents house forever, the large one I bought new.

Green Clean

Before I started making soap I started to make my own cleaners. I hate, hate, hate the horrible smell and fumes of the stuff that is sold in grocery stores. So I started to experiment with natural cleaners and haven't looked back since.

My basic one that I use for weekly cleaning of just about every surface of the house is simply vinegar, water and a few drops of dishwashing liquid. I usually do a 50:50 mix of 4-5% white vinegar and water (less vinegar if I'm using 15%). It's perfect for mild cleaning and the vinegar (I happen to love the smell of that) makes everything smell fresh. Although you can't smell it at all after it evaporates. I sometimes put in a bit of lemon juice for the nice smell and it is also an acid (like the vinegar) that cuts grease really well.

I also use a simple recipe for my untreated wooden floors. It's vinegar and oil. Yes I know, most people call that salad dressing, but it is great as a cleaner and conditioner of wooden floors. Just shake, spray and wipe.

The varnished parquet floors also get treated with vinegar. This time a very weak soapy solution with a cup of vinegar. Makes the varnish shine, shine, shine! I just love vinegar. It has so many uses. It's great as a hair rinse, although I usually can't be bothered. I use it in the dishwasher for the rinse to make sure the glasses are sparkly. I also use it in the washer for the rinse cycle.

And for those who need a quick furniture polish, olive oil with lemon juice works a treat.

The photo: A mixture of vinegar, water, lemon juice and a drop or two of detergent are my favorite cleaning fluid.  I have this great spray bottle that I reused. I'm looking for a pretty spray bottle, anyone?

The magic of real soap

It started for me in the south of France. I bought a bar of soap at the grocery store. "Marseille" it said on the soap itself. It was olive green and looked very, very French. I took it home with me and lasted a long time and it felt nice. Somehow softer and mellower that the detergents that I had gotten used to. Of course it was castille soap made of olive oil. I realized that this was actually real soap. Like we used to have when I was young. The very one and same that I had read for years and years that one should NEVER use to wash your face because it is too harsh!

Harsh!? NO, no, no, not true.

So I started looking for these simple soaps. Couldn't find any at the stores. Sodium Lauryl Sulfate was all that was on offer. And that just didn't do it for me anymore. So I began to wonder how these soaps were made. I mean, back in the old days people had to make their own soap, so how did they do it. Well the internet is the answer to all questions and I soon found out about how to make soap.

It didn't seem very difficult, but positively dangerous, but I was still interested. Then I started looking for ingredients. That proved problematic. Living on an island with a small population it can be very difficult to find stuff. Almond oil, jojoba oil, evening primrose and castor oil I could find a exorbitant prices in small quantities in the Apothecary. Coconut oil was very expensive and anything exotic like avocado oil, shea butter, cocoa butter I simply did not find. And then lye. Boy did I have to look for that. I found it, in 25 kg. bags! I wanted a few hundred grams! You know, like they used to sell to unclog drains. That would just about be the right amount. But NO! No such luck. So I gave up thinking about making soap and started making moisturizers instead. Still do those and haven't used store bought creams since then. It's been a year and most people say that I look years younger than my age. I of course attribute that to my wonderful creams. More about those later.

The photo: The first 100% Olive oil soap that I made, with a wooden thingumajig that I bought in a sale somewhere,my

pearls and a bowl from 1947 (it has a date on it) that I picked up in the Good shepheard fleamarket.

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What is it about soap

I had an obsession with cosmetics as a teenager. I knew all the lotion and potions of all the major manufacturers. I spent all my savings on cosmetics and read label long before that became fashionable.

Some years ago I became facinated by soaps! I read about soaps and soap making and soap ingredients and I talked about soap to everyone, all the time. Eyes glazed over. People politely stifled yawns and changed the subject. I couldn't understand it! How could people not want to talk about soap?

I stopped being obsessive about soap, at least openly. It seemed complicated to make and very dangerous! Getting lye was the biggest problem. I could get hold of 25 kilo's, but I only wanted a little bit to try! 25 kilo's of lye is a lot of soap. So I gave up my soap making dreams and started making face creams and body lotions and lip balm instead. That was fun and I gave my mom and older sister a jar. You know older sisters, don't you? They never think you're doing anything right, right? Well she wanted more! And she hasn't bought a commercially made face cream since.

Then, one day I invited my cousin over for a visit. We hadn't seen each other for a while, so I gently touched on the subject of making creams (which I could also talk about at great lenghts). Her eyes didn't glaze over, but neither did they light up - until she said: "Do you know what I really want to do? I want to make soap!"

I bought the 25 kilos soon after and we've been making soap every weekend since. And that's a lot of soap!

The photo: My 25 kilos of Caustic soda with Russian letters.  I wonder when I need to buy another bag!